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Panik, Janosik Contribute, But Fall To Swiss

by
Peter Pupello
/ Tampa Bay Lightning

A pair of Lightning prospects enjoyed a good day today in Buffalo at the IIHF World Junior Championships as defenseman Adam Janosik and future Lightning teammate Richard Panik landed on the score sheet, despite Team Slovakia being edged out by Switzerland, 6-4.

Box Score

Slovakia kept it close through the first 10 minutes, as Peter Sisovsky erased an early one-goal deficit to knot the contest at 9:18 of the opening period. Switzerland, however, recovered quickly to build a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period.

Despite maintaining its two-goal lead through the first 40 minutes, the Swiss squandered its advantage early in the final frame, as Slovakia climbed back from two goals down to tie the game at four apiece, courtesy of Panik. The Bolts prospect netted his second of the tournament to draw the game even with eight minutes remaining in regulation, getting help from Janosik, who assisted on the goal.

With two minutes left, the teams exchanged some more quality chances. Slovakia’s Miroslav Preisinger was called for a hooking call Swiss forward Inti Pestoni from behind on his way to the Slovak net, and following the next faceoff, Panik got the puck and had a two-on-one break with Juraj Majdan, but Reto Schappi used his stick to stop him.

The 4-4 tie was on the scoreboard for only two minutes before Switzerland’s Samuel Wasler scored on a rebound after a shot from Yannick Herren with 5:54 remaining. Pestoni finished things off with a goal into the empty net 30.3 seconds before the final buzzer.

Slovakia will attempt to avoid the relegation round tomorrow against Finland before enjoying a one-day hiatus in observance of New Year’s Day.